Automatic high speed sanding mechanism



Nov. 28, 1939. v. L FRANTz A 2,181,804

AUTOMATIC HIGH SPEED SANJING MECHANISM Filed June 1, 1937 Patented Nov. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES AUTOMATIC HIGH SPEED SANDING MECHANISM Virgil L. Frantz, Roanoke, Va.,

assignor to Y Graham-White Sander Corporation, Roanoke, Va., a corporation of Virginia Application June 1, 1987, Serial No. 145,903

11 Claims.

The invention relates to track sanders for preventing slipping of the driving wheels of locomotives of any and all types and has for its general or broad object the provision of means automatically operable at, and of course above, a certain predetermined speed for the purpose of preventing slipping of the driving wheels with respect to the track rails.

It need hardly be mentioned that a great many devices have been originated for the general purpose of track sanding for insuring traction during starting, stopping and/or backing and it is known that mechanism has been provided for sanding the track when the locomotive is building up speed, said mechanism becoming ineffective or ceasing to operate when a certain predetermined speed is reached. However, it has been discovered that in the case of the modern high speed train the driving wheels or drivers, as they are commonly called, begin to slip with respect to the rails when the locomotive reaches a speed of the order of eighty-five (85) miles per hour. This constant slippage of the drivers with respect to. the rails prevents the locomotive from attaining the maximum speed of which it is capable and results in waste of power and excessive wear upon the driver treads and the rails.

It is with the above facts in view that I have devised the present invention which contemplates the provision of automatic driver speed controlled means for sanding the track rails when the speed of rotation of the drivers reaches the critical point where slippage of the drivers is likely to occur.

An important object of the invention is to provide an automatic mechanism of this character which will operate independently of and/or in addition to the ordinary manually controlled means for effecting sanding during acceleration or deceleration, regardless of whether such ordinary means be electrically, pneumatically or otherwise operated.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism of this character and for this purpose embodying a normally closed valve which may be interposed in the fluid pressure supply line to the sand traps or to an automatic valve for operating the sanders, the latter alternative "being preferable, said normally closed valve being electrically operated upon closing or opening of a circuit in response t0 the speed of rotation of the driving wheels and said circuit being independently controllable by the engineer to open the valve to permit ordinary sanding as during starting and stopping.

A further object is to provide a mechanism of this character which may be used in conjunction with various sanding systems and apparatus, there being no particular limitation in this respect, though it may be mentioned that it is well adapted for use in connection with the systems shown, for instance in the Frantz Patent No. 1,877,837, the Ranson` Patent No. 1,884,227 or the Frantz Patent No. 1,938,287, these being mentioned simply by way of illustration but not limitation.

An additional object is to provide an apparatus of this character which will be simple and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble,` easy to install, positive in action, efiicient and durable in service, and a general improvement in the art.

To `the attainment of the foregoing and other objects and advantages, the invention preferably consists in the details of construction and the arrangement and co-mbination of parts to be hereinafter more'fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l is a rather diagrammatic and partial-I ly sectional view illustrating my mechanism,

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2 2 4of Figure l,

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a conventional sanding system with which my mechanism may be associated.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, it will be observed that I have disclosed a governor responsive circuit control device indicated as a whole by the numeral 5 which may be of any ordinary or preferred construction, but which is here shown as comprising a metallic casing 5 which may be mounted upon a locomotive at any desired location, this casing having a cover 'l secured in place in any appropriate manner.,`

The casing is conveniently of cylindrical shape and contains a metallic contact ring 8 insulated from the wall thereof by a dielectric ring 9 and having connected thereto a terminal Ill located exteriorly of the casing. Journaled transversely of the casing at the axis thereof is a shaft Il adapted to be rotated by a suitably housed `or enclosed or other flexible drive shaft l2 which may be in turn rotated by a pinion I3 meshing with a gear I4 carried or driven by an axle l5 of a locomotive truck. Carried by the shaft Il within the casing 6 is some conventional sort of y-ball mechanism adapted to engage the contact ring 8 under conditions to be explained.v

the like and consequently the shaft Il reaches a certain predetermined rate. It should be mentioned that the shaft Il rotates within bearings 2l inside the casing and that one of these bearings has a terminal connection 22 extending through and beyond the cover l.

My invention further contemplates the provision of an electro-magnetic or solenoid valve, indicated as a whole by the numeral 23, interposed in the fluid pressure supply line to the sanding mechanism, the particular location with respect to other elements of the entire sanding system being capable of variation. This valve is diagrammatically shown in Figure 1 as comprising a suitable body or iitting 24 interposed in the iluid pressure supply line and containing a movable gate or other equivalent member 25 carried by a slidable core 26 movable within a solenoid ill having terminals 28 and 29.

Conductors 3@ and 3l lead from any suitable source of current which might be a battery or a generator driven by the locomotive or which might be part of the lighting or other electrical system in the train, and are connected with the solenoid and speed responsive device. In the present instance the conductor is represented as connected with the terminal 28, the terminal 29 connected by a conductor 35i with the terminal il or" the contact ring 8, and the conductor connected with the termina?. If the conductors 3l and 32 may be connected through a switch 33 so that the solenoid may be energized by manual control instead of as the result of closing of the circuit through the speed re sponsive mechanism.

As pointed out above, the solenoid valve may be located at any desired or convenient point in the sanding system and, for purposes oi illustration only, reference may be had to Figur-e 3 where in the numeral 35i designates a sand trap having a sand inlet leg till connected with a sand dome 35 on a locomotive indicated in general by the numeral 3l. Leading from the sand trap is an outlet pipe 33 extending in front of the forward driver 3S and terminating adjacent the rail dil as is customary. Connected with the sand trap are pipes di and d2 leading vfrom any suitable or preferred engineers valve $3 which may, il cesired, conform to the disclosure in the William H. White Patent No. 1,611,125, though there is no limitation in this respect. Incidentally, the sand trap might be of the type mentioned in the Virgil L. Frantz et al'. Patent No. 1,864,057 though this is not necessarily the case. Connected with the engineers valve is a pipe la connected with a suitable source of fluid pressure. It is customary to have traps at both sides of the locomotive for sanding the rails in advance of the drivers and it is equally the same practice to have other sand traps for sanding the rails at the rear of the drivers in case it is necessary to back a train. However, in the present instance only one sand trap is shown for sanding the rails during forward movement of the locomotive.

In associating my invention with this conventional type of sanding mechanism, the above described solenoid valve may be interposed in a pipe d5 leading from the liuid pressure suppl and connected with the pipe i2 though, if preferred, there may be an additional pipe leading from the solenoid valve to the pipe l l. How-ever, such is not shown as it is not essential and as it is a rather obvious expedient. Instead of using such an engineers valve as above mentioned any ordinary kind of cut-off valve could be provided and, in such an event, recourse may be had to the utilization of automatic valves such as shown in the 'Virgil L. Frantz Patent No. 1,938,287 or the William L. Ranson Patent No. 1,884,227, which automatic valves take care of cleaning the outlet or discharge pipes leading from the sand trap in addition to actually forcing out the sand.

It will or course be understood that sanding under ordinary conditions of starting, stopping and backing the usual or any preferred engineers valve is operated in the well known manner. However, in accordance with the objects of the invention, when the locomotive attains such a speed that the drivers are likely to slip with respect to the rails, the ily-balls or weights I8 will be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force so that the rollers i9 thereon will engage against and travel upon the inner surface oi the contact ring 8. This results in closing the circuit from the conductor 3l, terminal 22, shaft Il, fly-balls i8, rollers i9, ring S, terminal it, conductor 32, solenoid 2l, and conductor 3b, back to the source. When the solenoid is thus energized its core 26 will be drawn in, thereby opening the gate 2li and permitting fluidy pressure to pass from the source through the pipe to the pipe ft2 leading to the sand trap. Clearly, this automatic operation is not in any way dependent upon the sanding operations requisite for ordinary use such as starting, stopping and backing. To enable the engineer to operate this electrical control device manually, the switch 33 is provided upon the closing of which the circuit is completed through the solenoid for effecting sanding at any speed below that at which the automatic means will function. It will be of course apparent that by using lighter or heavier weights or by adjusting the spring tension in the particular governor illustrated, it is possible to bring the automatic sander into operation at any predetermined speed.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawing it will be apparent that I have thus provided a very simply constructed, inexpensive and easily installed device whereby sanding of track rails will be automatically effected at and beyond a certain predetermined speed of a locomotive of any type whatsoever. t is thought from the above that the construction, operation and advantages will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art without further explanation.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that the disclosure is merely an eX- empliiication of the principles involved as the right is reserved to make all such changes in the details of construction as will widen the eld of utility and increase the adaptability of the device provided such changes constitute no departure from the spirit of the invention or the scope or" the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, means for supplying sand to the track rails in advance of the drivers, means normally maintaining said means inactive, and means ior continuously actuating the maintaining means to enable the supply means to deliver sand to the rails just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which said drivers will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, said actuating means being automatically operated when the speed of the locomotive approximates said predetermined speed.

2. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, means for forcing sand onto the track rails in advance of the drivers just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which said drivers will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, means normally maintaining said means inactive, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive for automatically releasing said maintaining means to enable said forcing means to continuously operate when the locomotive attains a speed approximating said predetermined speed.

3. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, pneumatic means for supplying sand to the track rails in advance of the locomotive driving wheels just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond whichv said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, means normally maintaining said means inactive, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive for actuating said maintaining means so as to enable said supplying means to continuously operate, said control means being automatically operated when the speed of the locomotive approximates said predetermined speed.

4. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, fluid pressure means for delivering sand onto the track rails in advance of the driving Wheels of a locomotive, means normally maintaining said uid pressure means inactive, and electrical means for actuating said maintaining means to enable said uid pressure means to continuously operate just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined high maximum speed beyond which said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, said electrical means being automatically operated when the speed of the locomotive approximates said predetermined speed.

5. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, pneumatic means for supplying sand to the track rails in advance of the driving wheels of a locomotive just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, valve means normally maintaining said means inactive, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive for automatically opening said valve means to enable said pneumatic means to operate when the locomotive attains a speed approximating said predetermined speed.

6. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, pneumatic means for delivering sand onto the track rails in advance of the driving wheels of a locomotive, valve means normally maintaining said means inactive, and electrically operated means for opening said valve means to enable said pneumatic means to continuously operate just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, said electrically .operated means being automatically operated when the speed of the locomotive approximates said predetermined speed.

'7. In a locomotive sanding mechanism, pneumatic means for forcing sand onto the track rails in advance of the driving wheels of a locomotive just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined high speed beyond which said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, valve means normally maintaining said pneumatic means inactive, electrical means for actuating said valve means to enable said pneumatic means to continuously operate, and a governor responsive to the speed of the locomotive for causing said electrical means to automatically operate when the locomotive attains a speed approximating said predetermined maximum speed.

S. A locomotive sanding device, comprising a sand trap, means for supplying sand to said trap, means for forcing sand from said trap to points adjacent the driving wheels of said locomotive, and means controlled by the speed of said locomotive for causing said forcing means to continuously operate just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, said last named means being automatically operated when the speed oi the locomotive approximates said predetermined speed.

9. A locomotive sanding device, comprising a sand trap, a main air supply pipe connected thereto for forcing the sand from said trap to points adjacent the locomotive driving wheels, a valve in said air supply pipe for normally preventing the passage of air through said pipe, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive for automatically opening said valve just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which said driving wheels will slip upon a continued application of power thereto.

10. The improvement in locomotive sanding mechanism of the character having sand traps, means for conducting sand from the sand traps to points in advance of the driving wheels of a locomotive, uid pressure means connected with said sand traps for forcing sand therefrom through said conducting means, manually operable valve means for controlling passage of fluid pressure to the sand traps, said improvement including additional fluid pressure means for effecting sanding independently of the operation of said manual valve means just before the speed of the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which the driving wheels of the locomotive will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive for causing said additional uid pressure means to automatically operate continuously upon the locomotive attaining a speed approximating said predetermined speed.

11. The improvement in locomotive sanding mechanism of the character having sand traps, means for conducting sand from the sand traps to points in advance of the driving wheels of a. locomotive, fluid pressure means connected with said sand traps for forcing sand therefrom through said conducting means, manually operable valve means for controlling passage of uid pressure to the sand traps, said improvement including additional fluid pressure means for e'ecting sanding independently of the operation of said manual valve means just before the speed oi' the locomotive rises to a predetermined maximum high speed beyond which the driving wheels of the locomotive will slip upon a continued application of power thereto, electrically controlled valve means normally preventing operation of said additional fluid pressure means and means responsive to the speed of the locomotive for automatically opening said valve means upon the locomotive attaining a speed approximating said predetermined speed.

VIRGIL L. FRANTZ. 

